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Argentina’s u20’s will compete in Australia next month. Los Pumitas will join Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand in the upcoming Oceania u20’s competition. The tournament will be played at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland ftrom July 01 to July 10.
The 2022 edition of the Oceania u20’s is the first since 2019. On the one hand, Argentina competed in a special u20’s competition in South Africa in 2021. On the other hand, teams from Oceania have not played in international competitions during the same time period.
The tournament will be played as the Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship. This is so despite the involvement of Argentina and the non-involvement of regional powers such as Samoa and Tonga.
The purpose of the Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship is to give players and teams opportunities to build towards higher honors. It is a vital piece of the High Performance Puzzle. Many players from Argentina u20’s are presently playing in the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) and others for professional clubs around the world.
Argentina’s team that did well in the 2019 Junior World Championship contained players now capped by Argentina who play in England, France, and Italy. Among them are Thomas Gallo, Juan Martín González, Gonzalo García, and Mateo Carreras, SLAR stars Bautista Pedemonte, Gerónimo Prisciantelli, Juan Pablo Castro, Ignacio Mendy were also in the team that defeated France.
The 2022 Oceania Rugby Under 20 Championship will serve all four competitors by replacing the void left by the cancellation of the World Rugby Junior World Championship. That competition will return in 2023 after three years of inactivity.
